'He missed four games last season after tearing his posterior cruciate ligament, but he is completely healed.'

'The more common of these include spraining or tearing one or more ligaments, tearing the meniscus or straining a tendon or muscle.'

'It wasn't until they opened him up that the damage was revealed: Alexander had torn his right pectoral muscle in four different places.'

'In a sprain, the ligaments may have been overstretched, twisted or torn.'

'With the heavy weight used for the barbell buddy curls, a muscle can be torn relatively easily if you don't control the movement.'

'He tore his biceps muscle on the third play of 2000, and the K.C. running game never recovered.'

Move very quickly in a reckless or excited manner.

'Besides churning up the meadows, the vandals have been tearing along paths and dirt tracks.'

'Zan watches his kids as they tear around the yard.'

'Then the cancer struck and quickly began tearing through his body.'

'They say riders tearing along pavements in the area have sent pensioners and mothers, pushing children in prams, sprawling.'

'After applying a little lipstick in front of the mirror quickly, I tore down the hallway, Angelina at my heals.'

'I tore along the ditch, as the car was struggling to stay in control.'

'I was so excited about it that I tore through my house Friday night, looking for the perfect picture from which to paint from.'

'Yes, it's a slightly bumpy ride on my trusty bike, but I'm grateful that some vehicle drivers can no longer tear along at high speeds.'

'Most of the album tears along at a relentless and brutal pace, it is far, far heavier than any of their previous offerings.'

'Reckless drivers who tear around the streets of Bradford face having their vehicles seized under new police powers.'

Be in a state of uncertainty between two conflicting options or parties.

'When his best friend gets involved in a street clash, Ricky is torn between past loyalties and his desire to start a new life with his girlfriend.'

'The undecided are torn between the pros and cons of both candidates.'

'Her daughter, Mary, is torn between Margaret's unhappiness at being out of her home and the advice of the safety experts and authorities who say it is not safe for her to return.'

'Tonight was homecoming and she was torn between excitement and dread.'

'Confused and upset, she was torn between the wish to adhere to the Australian legal system and the powerful love of her husband.'

'Frightened and isolated, his letter shows his confusion as he is torn between denial and acceptance.'

'But Olga told me that, when she was a child, she was torn between skating or ballet, so I thought I'd give her a chance…'

'Yet, once she discovers the magnitude of his violent side, she is torn between keeping his secret, or telling his parents.'

'Marguerite was torn between a fit of laughter, or bursting into tears.'

'By ten that morning, I was torn between being totally excited and just plain sad.'

noun

A hole or split in something caused by it having been pulled apart forcefully.

'If the vitreous is exceptionally adherent to a weak point on the retina, a tear, hole, or detachment may develop.'

'The photographs show tears in fabric pulled apart to look like wounds, or pieces of metal depicted so they seem organic.'

'She had put on her junky jeans that had holes and tears in it along with her ratty old black T-shirt.'

'An emergency laparotomy was performed revealing 6 litres of free blood and a tear in the posterior aspect of the spleen.'

'She watched him slowly stitch the tear, pulling the needle carefully through the fabric.'

'When changes due to myopia are present as diagnosed by the eye doctor, the retina is thin and can develop tears, holes and detachment.'

'I cut out almost two dozen over the next 10 minutes, rolling and stretching where I must, patching a hole, a tear, a crack.'

'A jagged tear split his shirt up one side, the faded red fabric parting to reveal the grimy ladder of his ribs.'

'Every few moments he checked the cloud cover for punctures or tears, any hole that might afford him a glimpse.'

'It looks as if Beltraw went on a rampage here - there are tears and holes in the wall, with a door torn of its hinges.'

More definitions

1. a drop of the saline, watery fluid continually secreted by the lacrimal glands between the surface of the eye and the eyelid, serving to moisten and lubricate these parts and keep them clear of foreign particles.Synonyms: teardrop.

2. this fluid appearing in or flowing from the eye as the result of emotion, especially grief: to shed tears.

3. something resembling or suggesting a tear, as a drop of a liquid or a tearlike mass of a solid substance, especially having a spherical or